My young driving horse

[Marsha Cassada]

I've introduced my young horse to the bit this week. I'm using an open bridle and french link bit. He accepted it easily and I let him wear the bridle for about 10 minutes the first two days. Today I put the halter on over the bridle and we went for our 2 mile walk. About 10 mintues into the walk, I noticed he was no longer mouthing and chewing the bit, but was more interested in which neighbor dogs were following us. He did no chewing the rest of the walk and stood quietly when we got home.

He is the one bitten by the snake, and lately had some tooth issues, so we are just now trying out the bit.

We are working on a good whoa, and ground excercises to help him learn about his body.

I have already led him on our walks with the sulky hitched (empty) and he seems perfectly comfortable with that. We've practiced circles and backing.

Next we will start ground driving.

I'm so happy to be working with this boy! He has such a nice temperament. He will be 3 in the spring, and by then we should be ready to hitch up for real.

Anyone else just starting on a new horse? What steps do you begin with?

 

[MiLo Minis]

Of course I am always working with a young/starter horse or several

I have 5 on the go right now. One of them is my own, or at least my daughter's. Manny was actually started back in the early spring. I worked him in the round pen early teaching him his cues and to whoa. Then I worked him in the round pen to introduce the harness both with and without blinders. Then we went on to learning to accept rein pressure and to whoa and turn left and right. Ground driving outside the round pen with the long lines and finally one go in the cart. He got the summer off. This fall we are working on refining his work in the cart, looking for relaxation and giving to the bit. I am really pleased with his progress so far and I think he is going to make a lovely little driving horse. He is grey (my favorite colour in harness) and very handsome!

 

[disneyhorse]

My process is similar to yours... my horses as 2yr olds are routinely freelunged or lunged on a line (less frequently than freelunged since I don't feel it's great on their little bodies when they are young) and during that time, they start wearing a bit, and a surcingle with a crupper. They can buck and play and the stuff stays on while I work them. After a while, they won't care about it at all. I also take them for walks in their "tack". I like to do this for most of their 2yr old year, and then Oct/Nov I start actually long lining/ ground driving them.

Andrea

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I've started ground driving Dusty. Today was the second lesson, and he is sort of getting the idea of what reins are for. A question: he has NEVER offered to kick, but today he sort of did a tiny one when I was putting pressure on him. I stopped and did a voice reprimand, then we stood quietly for a minute. Do you think he was overloaded with information, or was he being ornery? He is young and I know sometimes they have a hard time processing too much information.

After our quiet minute, we started work again and he responded just fine. We finished on a good note.

Our sessions now are only about 10 minutes.

 

[MiLo Minis]

Well you can be pretty sure it was one or the other!

Sorry but you are really the only one that can answer that as you were there. Either way you responded correctly as he needs to learn that kicking is not acceptable in harness (could be downright dangerous if he does it in a cart) although I would have skipped the "quiet minute" if he was being ornery and saying I don't want to work right now! I do have to say that I teach reining and giving to rein pressure in the round pen long before I start longlining though so wondering if you maybe are taking a step beyond where he is at the moment?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Lori, thanks for replying.

I do not have a round pen.

I was taught about "the quiet minute" by a trainer, who showed me that when the horse zones out he is no longer taking in information, because he cannot process it, and he must "wake up", which is evidenced by chewing and lowering the head. Those are my quotation mark words--I can't remember the exact terminology she used (I think I zoned out!) An indication of zoning out is sometimes ornery behavior, or freezing. You're right, I am the one who will have to discern if he is zoned out, or not. But either way, stopping and asking for a calm whoa and standing quietly should be appropriate.

By ground driving, I mean I had the harness saddle on him and the reins through the tugs. I am walking behind. Is that the correct definition of ground driving?

To me this seems the best way. We will probably walk many miles this way.

I am exposing my ignorance and inexperience, but this is a learning forum, right?

 

[MiLo Minis]

If you have any kind of small board paddock you can make it a "round" pen just by laying boards across the corners. The reason you want it "round" is so that the horse doesn't have a corner he can escape into. It can actually be oval and it still works!

I highly recommend them for training because the horse can teach himself a lot in there with your help of course.

Sometimes when you are working with a horse they look for ways to evade you not out of zoning out but just because they would like to think they are more dominant than you and they don't want you telling them what to do - in that case I would not reward the behaviour with a time out. Most certainly if their disobedience is resulting from worry or confusion a time out is appropriate and a step back is called for - you have gone farther than they are capable of at the time.

That is exactly the definition of long lining but it is tough to get to that point if the horse doesn't already know to give to the rein pressure so you are going to have a bit of trouble for sure. He likely was "zoning out" as he didn't understand what you wanted so he said "leave me alone!"

 

[AppyLover2]

As an observer here I have got to ask....what's the difference between long lining and ground driving?

I'm loving this new forum and I don't even drive - YET. I sure want to try it though.

 

[RhineStone]

Although some references use the terms interchangably, I have understood the difference to be the following:

Long lining is like longing, but with two longe lines attached to the bit. One line is around the back side of the horse. The other can be attached directly to the bit or through the tug and then to the driver's hand. The driver stands in the "middle" of the circle.

Ground driving is done behind the horse, or just off to the side out of kicking range. Like driving without a vehicle.

The more "accepted" references don't use the term Ground Driving at all, and simply use Long Lining or Long Reining. Both are harder to do than driving, as you are moving in a different pace from the horse than you would be in a vehicle.

 

[AppyLover2]

Thanks Myrna. I thought I had ground driven Bambi a couple of times. Turns out I was right. LOL

 

[Marsha Cassada]

We've been ground driving for a week now and I am so pleased with the way Dusty is coming along! He is the first one that hasn't gone in circles trying to find out why I am behind him!

My son took this picture of him, and it always makes me realize how important it is to have a photo, as it helps to check on equipment. Since I am generally working alone, it isn't easy to get anyone to take pictures.

Dusty is wearing the little sulky harness with the quick hitch. He has an open bridle and french link bit. The reins are through the shackle rings.

We have a lot more ground miles to go, but I am wondering if I need to wait till spring, when he is actually 3, to begin driving with the light sulky. What is the general opinion?

By the way, this IS ground driving, right?

 

[MiLo Minis]

We've been ground driving for a week now and I am so pleased with the way Dusty is coming along! He is the first one that hasn't gone in circles trying to find out why I am behind him!

My son took this picture of him, and it always makes me realize how important it is to have a photo, as it helps to check on equipment. Since I am generally working alone, it isn't easy to get anyone to take pictures.

Dusty is wearing the little sulky harness with the quick hitch. He has an open bridle and french link bit. The reins are through the shackle rings.

We have a lot more ground miles to go, but I am wondering if I need to wait till spring, when he is actually 3, to begin driving with the light sulky. What is the general opinion?

By the way, this IS ground driving, right?

This IS ground driving! Or line driving or long lining or whatever you prefer to call it

He is looking great!!! Whenever I have the luxury of time, usually with one of my own, I will always hitch them at least once and drive them for a very short bit, nice and quiet and easy, in the fall and then leave them till early spring, get them out, hitch them up and start driving them. For some reason it seems that giving them that one good drive and then some time off to mull it over they come out in the spring as if they were driving forever. You still need to treat them as green and take big wide turns, etc but they really seem to deal with everything better.

I also want to say that you sure look way more elegant than I do when out working with the horses!